It’s nice to think of JoJo, the now 23-year-old songstress with a velvety voice, as the 13-year-old donning glittery pink lip gloss in her hit video “Leave (Get Out).”
I mean, who doesn’t harp on the days when TRL reigned supreme, sporty sweatsuits were paired with kitten heels and the hardest decision of life was figuring out what Smackers lip balm to wear? Our fashion choices may have been questionable, but our taste in music was phenomenal.
That’s how we knew there was something about the little girl singing a tune fit for Destiny’s Child post-breakup. In retrospect, the catchy hit was more inappropriate for a child who was fighting her way out of those early pubescent pre-teen years that fuck your childhood way up. But its ability to remain such a gleeful memory, even as most of her original fans are pushing into our late 20’s and bogged down with the reality that is adulthood, is impressive. Think about it: Has there ever been a time that someone has started to sing JoJo’s scornful relationship pop gem and you’ve thrown it all the shade of, say, one of Jessica Simpson’s bubbly ballads (sorry baby girl, we still love you).
No. That shit is classic. It’s like fucking Dunkaroos. It’s always a welcome nostalgic kick in the ass. And for that, we thank JoJo.
But with time comes change. Justin and Britney broke up, Jessica and Nick called it quits, Carson Daly got old and we graduated from high school. “Leave (Get Out)” was followed by a second record, “Too Little Too Late,” and JoJo started having some major issues with her label, Blackground Music. Then, somewhere along the road, Rihanna stole our hearts, pop music got really weird and Beyonce revealed she was actually Jesus Christ in the flesh.
So, there was that.
But we’re here to remind you — JoJo never left. In fact, the singer, born Joanna Noëlle Blagden Levesque, has literally funneled all the coolness of ’80s and ’90s musical treasures into her art, managing, somehow, not to piss us off as a clueless internet-age ’90s baby who doesn’t know two shits about Anita Baker, but still insists on covering her.
Nope. She’s one of us.
With a mature sound that gives a nod to early ’90s R&B, a knack for covering classics with her own unique thumbprint, and a beautiful smile to match, we’re crushing on JoJo these days something crazy.
Like seriously, the girl can sang.
Like that time she did a cover of Anita Baker’s “Caught Up In The Rapture:”
The audacity! The magic!
Which she posted on her Instagram as well:
Or how about a few years ago when she remixed Drake’s “Marvin’s Room,” and “Houstatlantavegas” into a version for drunk and hot girls with boyfriend problems:
Giving us an anthem…yet again…
And a few years earlier, she covered Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody:”
Like…we can’t even…
And what about that time she covered Paula Cole and made all of our Dawson’s Creek dreams come true?
We’re just waiting on that “Where Did All The Cowboys” cover now…
And gosh, there was John Legend too:
Real tears. Real.
And covers aside, JoJo knows her shit. She recognizes Andre 3000’s genius:
Her mixtape Agápē is inspired by Joni Mitchell and the Outkast rapper. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she had this to say: “As I’ve grown older and started to explore myself as a writer, I’ve gone back to Blue and Court and Spark over and over again. I’m so impressed with her writing prowess, individuality, boldness, and her own brand of feminism. I couldn’t connect from a lyrical standpoint with her songs until had I had experienced that kind of sadness. It’s the same with The Love Below: It didn’t make sense the way it’s supposed to until I had my own sexual experiences.”
And her Instagram kills:
And so do her legs:
Goddamn Goddamn GODDAMN!
Also, she’s a down to earth girl who stans for Lucky Charms.
And this is her phone cover:
Oh. She also KILLED her SXSW performance. And that kilt thingamajig was everything:
And she’s also pretty much a feminist. Which means she’s our type of woman:
And overall, we’re just glad that she’s doing her thing. Now, excuse us while we continue to stalk our girl crush on social media.
PHOTO CREDIT: Instagram
